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A Letter Written to the Daily New Era, 

Lancaster, Pa., by Hon. Charles I. Landis, 

President Judge of the Second 

Judicial District of 

Pennsylvania 



PRESS OF 

THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 

LANCASTER, PA. 



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THADDEUS STEVENS 



AS a supplement to a recent let- 
ter written by First Deputy At- 
torney General Keller, In 
answer to statements made by one, 
Thomas Dixon, concerning the late 
Thaddeus Stevens, will you permit 
me to furnish some facts chieSy 
gleaned from records, and, therefore, 
not open to dispute? Historic lies, as 
has been recently shown by Prof. Al- 
bert Bushnell Hart, are, after a time, 
taken as actual truths, and it would, 
therefore, seem to be best to expose, 
if possible, the falsity of Mr. Dixon's 
claims before the evidence is lost or 
has been forgotten. 

Mr. Stevens was born on April 4, 
1792. He came to Pennsylvania about 

1815, and he was admitted to the Bar 
of Adams county on September 24, 

1816. While in Gettysburg, he had an 
office at the southeast corner of 
Chambersburg and Washington streets. 
I am informed, and I think reliably, 
that he did not then keep house, but 
boarded at the old Washington Hotel. 
He moved to Lancaster and was ad- 
mitted to the Lancaster County Bar 
on August 16, 1842. He was then 
over fifty years of age. On April 21, 
1843, he acquired, by virtue of a 
Sheriff's sale, the lot and two houses 
located on the northeast corner of 
South Queen and East Vine streets, in 
this city. From 1856 until his death 
he made the northernmost of these 
houses his home, except when in 
Washington, and he was buried from 
it. He could only have acquired pos- 
session of this property under the 

(1) 



(2) 

Sheriffs deed during the summer or 
fall of 1843. 

He never lived with any woman 
by the name of Lydia Brown. Mr. 
Dixon, no doubt, refers to Lydia H. 
Smith, a colored woman, who was, for 
many years, the trusted housekeeper 
of Mr. Stevens. She did not come to 
Lancaster with him. About the spring 
of 1844, the late Emanuel C. Reigart 
erected on the west side of South 
Queen street, between Centre Square 
and Vine streets, three three-story 
brick dwellings. One of these, then 
numbered 11, but now numbered 38,he 
leased to Mr. Stevens, and the others 
were occupied by Hon. Thomas H. 
Burrowes and Charles B. Penrose, 
Esq., the grandfather of Senator Boies 
Penrose. Mr. Penrose was then a prac- 
ticing lawyer in this city. Mr. Stevens 
remained in this location until 1856, 
when, owing to the pending marriage 
of Mr. Reigart's daughter to the late 
William P. Brinton, he was obliged to 
vacate. He then moved across the 
street to his own house. Mrs. Brin- 
ton was married on November 12, 
1856, and shortly thereafter moved to 
the South Queen street property, 
where she continued to reside, as we 
all know, until recent years. 

When Mr. Stevens began house- 
keeping, being a single man, he was 
obliged to secure a housekeeper. 
He first endeavored to em- 
ploy a woman by the name of Anna 
Sulkey; but this woman, about that 
time, became the wife of Dennis Mar- 
tin, a colored barbeT, who lived in Lan- 
caster. She, therefore, while de- 
clining the position, recommended to 
him her cousin, Lydia H. Smith, then 
a widow with two small children. 
Upon this recommendation, Mr. 
Stevens engaged Mrs. Smith, who, 
shortly thereafter, came to Lancaster 
and remained with him until his death. 



'.' 



(3) 

She occupied, when her children lived 
with her, a one-story frame house on 
the rear of Mr. Stevens' lot, fronting 
on South Christian street. His 
nephews, Simon Stevens, and 
Major Thaddeus Stevens, Jr., 
lived for the most time 
with him. These gentlemen were 
also members of the Lancaster County- 
Bar, the former being admitted in 
1848 and the latter in 1859. Mr. 
Stevens died at Washington on 
August 11,1868, and he was buried in 
Shreiner's Cemetery, in Lancaster, on 
August 15, 1868. He gave no direc- 
tions in his will as to his place of 
burial, but it is said that he requested 
that he should be buried in this ceme- 
tery because the charters of the Lan- 
caster and Woodward Hill Cemeteries, 
in which he had had lots, restricted in- 
terments to white persons. He prepared 
his own epitaph, which is upon his 
tomb. True to those principles of 
equality which he steadfastly main- 
tained in life, and, as Congressman 
McCall, in his Life of Stevens, de- 
clares, "a true democrat," he wished 
to repose in a plot where no limita- 
tions prevailed as to color, race or 
creed. 

Martin Shreiner was in his day one 
of the prominent and reputable citi- 
zens of Lancaster city. Many of his 
descendants continue to live here, and 
a number of them are buried in the 
above-named cemetery. In his life- 
time, he laid out, as a place of burial, 
a plot of ground at the corner of West 
Chestnut and North Mulberry streets. 
He called it Concord Cemetery, but 
it has been generally known as 
Shreiner's Cemetery. He divided it 
into 120 lots, and, in his life, he sold 
and made deeds for some of these 
lots. The sole restriction contained in 
the deeds was, that suicides should 
not be buried there. Mr. Shreiner died 



(4; 

about February, 1S66, and his will, 
dated May 2, 1855, was proven Febru- 
ary 22, 1866. In it, he provided as 
follows: "Item — It is rny will and I 
order and direct that the two lots of 
ground at the corner of Mulberry and 
Chestnut streets, in the city of Lan- 
caster, which I purchased from Philip 
Reitzel and wife, sh-vll be used and 
kept as a cemetery, and laid out in 
lots or pieces according to the plan 
thereof, and be sold by my executors 
at private sale, hereby giving my said 
executors or the survivor of them full 
power to make, execute and deliver to 
the purchasers good and sufficient 
deeds in fee for the same." He also 
provided that, after the death of his 
daughters, the lot-holders of the ceme- 
tery should, from time to time, select 
three suitable persons out of their 
number to take charge of and to care 
for the cemetery, and that, after the 
death of his executors and all of his 
daughters, these three persons should 
sell the burial lots then undisposed 
of, make deeds for the same, and 
pay over the proceeds to his heirs and 
legal representatives. The present 
trustees of the cemetery are Henry M. 
Shreiner, John J. Knight and George 
W. Gibbs. There are now buried in 
this plot 856 persons, of whom 850 are 
white and six are colored. When Mr. 
Stevens was buried, only one colored 
man, whose name was John Johnson, 
was interred in it. Mr. Dixon states 
that Mr. Stevens and this colored wo- 
man were buried in a negro cemetery, 
side by side, and even an historian of 
our own State, who evidently made no 
inquiry into the true facts, lias assert- 
ed that he was buried in a negro cem- 
etery. The incorrectness of these as- 
sertions is obvious from the above and 
the following facts: 

Lydia H. Smith was born in Gettys- 
burg, on St. Valentine's Day, 1813. 



(5) 

She was married to Jacob Smith, who 
was a teamster and musician. They 
had" two children, William, who was 
born in 1836, and Isaac, who was born 
in 1844. Jacob Smith died at Gettys- 
burg and he was there buried. As she 
brought her two boys to Lancaster 
with her, it follows that they were 
born before she became Mr. Stevens' 
housekeeper. Mrs. Smith, after Mr. 
Stevens' death, kept a boarding house 
in Washington, D. C, and she died in 
a hospital in that city on Saint 
Valentine's Day, 1884. Her remains 
were brought to Lancaster, taken to 
the house of the late George Heiss, 
and her funeral was held there. Mr. 
Heiss was, in his day, a prominent to- 
bacco dealer, and, for several years, 
represented the Third ward in Com- 
mon Council, and he at that time was 
the tenant of the old Stevens mansion. 
She was, by direction contained in her 
will, buried in her lot in Saint Mary's 
Catholic Cemetery, of which church 
she had long been a member. The 
following are the inscriptions on her 
monument and on the one erected for 
her sons in that cemetery: 

LYDIA HAMILTON 

Relict of 

JACOB SMITH 

For many years the trusted 

housekeeper of 

HON. THADDEUS STEVENS. 

Born at Gettysburg, Penna., 

on St. Valentine's Day, 1813. 

Died at Washington, D. C, 

on St. Valentine's Day, 1884. 



ISAAC 

Died April 7, 1884, 

In the 37th year of his age. 

WILLIAM 

Died May 10, 1860, 

In the 25th year of his age. 

SONS OF 
JACOB & LYDIA H. SMITH. 



(6) 

The late Walter M. Franklin, Esq., 
was one of her executors. 

I have no recollection personally of 
Mrs. Smith, but many persons are 
still living who knew her well. She 
Is said to have been comely in ap- 
pearance, light in color, and exceed- 
ingly intelligent and entertaining. 
She was a decent and respectable 
woman, and she always kept herself 
quite within her station. Not a par- 
ticle of evidence to the contrary has 
ever been produced. If at any time 
she was brusque to those who ad- 
dressed her in a rude and unmanner- 
ly way little blame can be made 
against her on that account. Dr. 
Henry Carpenter, of this city, was 
Mr. Stevens' and President James 
Buchanan's physician, and he 
also attended her professionally 
In politics, he was a leading Demo- 
crat. Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes, 
one-time Secretary of State, and thw 
first Superintendent of Common 
Schools of this State, was a leading 
Republican and also a close friend of 
Mr. Stevens. Mrs. Smith was often 
at the houses of these gentlemen and \ / 
of others of like social position in the 
city, and she was on terms of inti- 
macy with their families. In her 
will she bequeathed to the three 
daughters of Dr. Carpenter and to 
his stepson, to one of the daughters 
of Mr. Burrowes, and to Mrs. Kerfoot, 
the wife of the late Dr. George B. 
Kerfoot, small legacies, in apprecia- 
tion of the kindness which she had 
received from them. If she had been 
a woman of bad character, is it likely 
that ladies of this standing would 
have shown her any regard? To 
every one to whom these ladies were 
or are known, for some of them are 
yet alive, the question answers itself. 
I very well recall Isaac Smith, who 
was commnly known as "Little Ike" 



(7) 

Smith. For some years he kept a 
barber shop on South Queen street. 
He was, like his father, musically In- 
clined, and was tJhe leader of the 
colored baud. He was small in stat- 
ure and very black, and it was evi- 
dent, from his appearance, that theru 
was nas trot the slightest trace 01 
Caucasian blood in his veins. 

Mr. Stevens cared nothing for so- 
cial life, but he, nevertheless, did not 
disregard what he deemed were the 
amenities belonging to his position. 
During his later Congressional years 
he gave large parties, which many 
prominent people of this city attend- 
ed. The following is a copy of one 
of his invitations, now in the posses- 
sion of Mr. George Steinman: 

"Lancaster, Aug. 21st, 1860. 
"Mr. Thaddeus Stevens requests the 
company of Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Wright 
on the evening of Friday, the 24th 
inst." 

Owing to his having no female rela- 
tives in his home, at one of these 
parties his friend and neighbor, 'Mrs. 
Brinton, received for him, and at an- 
other Mrs. Oliver J. Dickey perform- 
ed the same service. The purpose I 
have in view of recalling these func- 
tions of bygone days is to show that 
Mr. Stevens, instead of being a man 
of low character and associations, as 
asserted by his detractors, was recog- 
nized and esteemed in this com- 
munity as a gentleman of stand- 
ing. He was a lawyer of large 
practice and the leader of the Lan- 
caster Bar. He was president of the 
Lancaster Law Library Association, 
the only organization of lawyers ex- 
isting in Lancaster county at that 
time, from 1858 until the time of his 
death. From 1842, for about twenty 
years, he appeared before the Su- 
preme Court in 125 cases. In fact, 



(8) 

he was concerned in all the important 
litigation and in almost all the cases 
appealed from his county to that 
Court, up to about 1862, when his 
Congressional duties prevented him 
from devoting much time to his law 
practice. On May 9, 1853, on behalf 
of the Bar of the State, he, at Harris- 
burg, announced the death of Judge 
John B. Gibson, before the Supreme 
Court. I note these activities to show 
what manner of man he was in hi8 
professional life. 

Pennsylvania College was founded 
in 1832 at Gettysburg, under the aus- 
pices of the General Synod of the 
Lutheran Church. Mr. Stevens was, 
as I have said, at that time practicing 
law in Adams county, and he resided 
there. In 1834 he was elected a 
trustee of this institution, and he con- 
tinued to hold that position during 
the rest of his life. In its earlier years 
he took a conspicuous part in the 
business of the college, and by bis 
will be bequeathed to it the sum of 
$1,000. It will be remembered that 
Gettysburg was then, and is even no ,v, 
a small town, where members of the 
Bar, especially, were well known. Mr. 
Stevens would not have been thus con- 
nected with this church institution, if, 
at that time, his morals were as ques- 
tionable as Dixon asserts. 

He was also a politician of unrival- 
ed acumen. The two pursuits 
— the law and politics — filled the im- 
portant places in his life. He 
made no false professions as to his 
personal or political beliefs. He was 
a radical Republican, and, as such, 
was willing to go the limit for hia 
cause. In the great conflict of the 
Civil War, he was one of the "sheet- 
anchors" of the Union. The bitter 
animosities which grew out of it gave 
rise to these sensational scandals, 
and, solely upon the idle rumors 



(9) 

which his bitter enemies started, has 
Dixon, in ''The Clansman" and in 
"The Birth of a Nation," based his 
slanderous story. Men may differ 
with Mr. Stevens as to the wisdom 
of placing at that time the ballot in 
the hands of the colored race; but 
none can fail to realize the serious- 
ness of the questions which then 
confronted the statesman. Mr. Ste- 
vens advocated this measure because 
he deemed it necessary for their pro- 
tection, and the action, after the war, 
of the Legislatures elected in some 
of the Southern States during ihe 
Presidency of Andrew Johnson well 
warranted this conclusion. Fot many 
years Mr. Stevens ably represented 
tills district in Congress, and his 
memory is revered by a large major- 
ity of our citizens. I, witii others, 
feel that the lies and misstatements 
again reiterated concerning him 
should not go unchallenged. For his 
mighty efforts in its behalf, he de- 
serves well of his country, and his 
memory should not be falsified in his- 
tory. 

In conclusion, I ask all fair-minded 
rersons whether Mr. Dixon is entitled 
to command confidence; in fact, 
whether he is worthy of any credit, 
when it is taken Into account that he 
personally can have no knowledge a* 
to the facts which he asserts, and 
wnen it is also considered that he has 
circulated a sensational story chiefly 
to stir up racial and sectional bitter- 
ness, in order that he may thereby 
put money in his purse. 

CHARLES I. LANDIS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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